Dublin-headquartered Keywords Studios has announced an expected 30% increase in revenue as part of its full year trading update.
The AIM-listed firm reports a 15% organic revenue growth supported by significant investment, and its board expects to report full year revenues of approximately €326m (£276m), a 30% increase on the prior year.
It explained the boost in performance was the result of particularly strong organic growth of its two largest service lines, Functional Testing and Game Development.
It also reported a shake-up in development cycles as focus shifts from the current generation of games consoles to development of titles for the new Xbox and PlayStation console scheduled for release later in 2020.
Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords said the firm had continued to invest in expanding its business in the last year including in new and enlarged facilities, improved technology, strengthened management and additional functional support.
“Whilst this investment held back margins in 2019, it will enable us to continue to deliver high levels of growth as we position ourselves as the ‘go to’ global services platform for video games in a market which is seeing an accelerating trend towards outsourcing,” he said.
“Looking forward, we expect the launch of a new generation of games consoles and the further development of new streaming platforms, in addition to the structural drivers of growth across the video games market as a whole and the ongoing trend towards external development, to drive continued strong demand for our services through 2020 and beyond.”
The firm made a total of eight acquisition during 2019, spending a total of €28m. Most recently, in December 2019, it acquired a trio of firms in DeIchi, Kantan and Syllabes. The three acquisitions added machine learning technology, marketing services and a recording studio to its portfolio.
Day said that the firm plans to make a number of further selective acquisitions as part of its pipeline as it enters 2020.
“”Our recently enlarged banking facility positions us well to capitalise on this clear opportunity to take a leading share of the increasingly outsourced video games services market both organically and via acquisitions, as we further enhance shareholder value,” he said.